Left: Principal Jane Townsend is rebuilding the college’s reputation
Far left: An aerial view of the Easton campus, near Norwich.
covering all aspects of teaching with a lot of time dedicated to planning the new academic year. Progress has also been made in terms of staff management. The latest report, published at the end of May, says “much stronger” leadership is ensuring that teach- ers are now clear about being held accountable for the progress of their students.
with the merger of Suffolk’s Ot- ley College and Easton College in Norfolk to become East Anglia’s main land-based college. Both in- stitutions had started out as agri- cultural colleges – Easton in 1951 and Otley in 1970.
Progress made Today agricultural, horticultur- al and veterinary studies remain
the main focus of courses. Fur- ther inspections report “reason- able progress” has been made in areas such as student behaviour, apprentice training and the gen- eral quality of teaching. Having been deputy principal at Bicton College in Devon, Ms Townsend put into effect a com- prehensive staff development programme at Easton & Otley,
As part of the improvements at the college, there have been some redundancies among staff.
While regrettable, Ms
Townsend says these have been necessary to bring the college within its budget and to tailor its offer of the type of courses de- manded by students.
Rewarding careers
The range of courses on offer cur- rently extends to business ad-
ministration, countryside man- agement, forestry and tree care, animal and veterinary stud- ies, equine, floristry, fisheries, game-keeping, uniformed pub- lic service, sports and zoology. “Our funds are always restrict- ed but the industry needs well trained farm, managers, machin- ery operators, agronomists and livestock handlers. The courses here at the two colleges give stu- dents the confidence and ability to grow a rewarding career.” The latest Ofsted report was a tremendous boost and “proves that the strategy that we’ve put in place is working,” says Ms Townsend.
“Our finances are under con- trol and we’re living within our means,” she adds. “We’re embarking on an am- bitious programme of student re- cruitment, our commercial focus has been revitalised with the ap- pointment of Fay Burrage as the new commercial and business di- rector and we’ve vastly improved links with business partners in- vesting in our future.”
Lyndene, Lynn Road, Gayton, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE32 1QJ Tel: 01553 636072 Email:
can@lyndene.plus.com
When planning your next building project consider your traditional Farm Buildings. We specialise in transforming these into homes, holiday lets or conference centres with accommodation.
For personal service and genuine back-up with your project, give us a call to arrange a meeting.
JULY 2018 • ANGLIA FARMER 67
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
